Foster received a nomination in the category of outstanding directing for a comedy series – she helmed an episode of the first season of the Netflix series “Orange Is the New Black,” which follows a woman named Piper (Taylor Schilling, an Emmy nominee in the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series) who feels herself to be a fish out of water as she goes to serve a prison sentence. Foster also directed an episode of the show’s second season and an installment of the political drama “House of Cards,” which is also released by Netflix.

Foster received the Best Actress prize for her work in the 1988 film “The Accused” and the 1991 movie “The Silence of the Lambs” and has directed films such as the 2011 film “The Beaver” and 1995’s “Home for the Holidays.”

She recently spoke with Deadline about the difference between what she directs and the movies in which she stars.

“As a director, dramedy is what I do,” she said. “It’s not who I am as an actor. The genre requires a very specific skill in terms of recognizing what is quirky and perverse and to be moved by it. The female prisoners on ‘Orange Is The New Black’ have a very spiritual journey that’s so complex. They’re all soul-searching and they change through each other.”

Foster said she enjoyed how speedy the TV process is.

“I’m not one for lounging around and having long soliloquies about a character,” she said. “TV is the biggest team effort and the pace happens so fast.”

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“Orange” received other nominations besides Foster’s and Schilling’s, including one for Outstanding Comedy Series, Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series for writers Jenji Kohan and Liz Friedman, and nods for actresses Kate Mulgrew, who received a nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series, and Uzo Aduba, Laverne Cox, and Natasha Lyonne, who all received nominations for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series.

Time writer Lily Rothman recently explained why actresses who seem to have the same amount of screen time received nods in different categories – it depends on the contract an actress signs. If someone signed a guest star contract, they must enter the guest category for consideration, even if they appear in every episode of the TV program. (In addition, both Aduba and Lyonne, for example, were recently bumped up to series regulars for the second season, but they didn't hold that status during the show's first season, which is the season that was considered for the Emmy Awards.)

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